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Pennsylvania Game Commission schedules big-game animal scoring event

2010 Bucky 157.jpg

Jeff Sitlinger, a native of Elizabethville, Dauphin County, bagged Pennsylvania's No. 4 typical buck near Loyalton on the first day of the 2010 firearms hunting season for deer.
(Special to The Patriot-News)

The Pennsylvania Game Commission will hold a big-game
measuring session from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the National Guard
Readiness Center along Rt. 26 in Huntingdon.

Hunters with white-tailed deer antlers or black bear skulls
may bring their trophies to the event to have commission staff measure and officially
score them under the Boone and Crockett Club scoring system for big game.

The commission expects to see some incredible antlers
brought in for measuring.

"Since we've had antler restrictions in place for several
years now, more mature bucks are being taken," said Barry Leonard, information
and education supervisor for the commission's Southcentral Region."

"The additional age has resulted in larger antlers, so there
should be some impressive racks brought in to be measured. This means some good
bucks could go into the record books"

Nearly 200 new deer, elk and bear were added to the latest
edition of the "Pennsylvania Big Game Records" book released late last year by
the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

"Hunters for years have turned to the Pennsylvania Big
Game Records book as a valuable tool to show where trophy animals are being
harvested," said Bob D'Angelo, coordinator for the commission's Big Game
Records Program.

For the measuring event, each hunter also should bring his
hunting license and the tag associated with the antlers or skull.

Anyone bringing antlers or skulls for measuring that he did
not obtain through the harvest of the animal is asked bring any documentation
available as to where the animal was harvested and by whom.

Mounts and cleaned antlers and skulls that have dried for 60
days are eligible to be scored.

The session is free and open to the public.

In the 2013 edition of the record book, the top five entries
in each category are as follows. (For an explanation of the scores shown with
each entry, and the meaning of typical and nontypical racks in deer and elk,
check out the five-part video series on PennLive.)

Copies of the 2013 Pennsylvania Big Game Records book are
available through the Game Commission's website at www.pgc.state.pa.us; by
calling 1-888-888-3459; or by mailing remittance to Pennsylvania Game
Commission, Dept. MS, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.

The book costs $5, plus shipping and handling. Pennsylvania
residents also pay 6 percent sales tax. Shipping and handling charges are $1.25
for orders up to $6; $2.95 for orders up to $20; and $4.95 for orders up to
$35.